Ageless Venus at home taking on a young world
of what he called a “hole” in the middle of the court near the service line. After the match, he pointed the spot out to chair umpire Carlos Bernardes.
“He wanted me to show him, so I showed him,” Djokovic said. “His reaction wasn’t that great.”
With the victory, Djokovic will be one of an event-record five quarterfinalists aged 30 or older, with Berdych, Federer, Muller and Andy Murray also advancing. Berdych last beat Djokovic in Miami in 2013. He also won in the Wimbledon semifinals in 2010, when he was the runner-up to Nadal. Also rekindling their history in the quarterfinals will be Federer and Milos Raonic, who will meet for the third time.
If you hunt for symbolism, as so many of us sports writers do, it was there in abundance over the last few days at Wimbledon as Venus Williams faced down the generation gap.
Naomi Osaka, 19, in the third round. Ana Konjuh, 19, in the fourth round. Jelena Ostapenko, 20, in the quarterfinals under a closed Centre Court roof.
All three of Williams’ most recent opponents were born in 1997, the year she made her Wimbledon debut.
Twenty years later, Williams is part of the landscape and lore at the All England Club, and while many of those who have watched her from the start are feeling nostalgic, Williams — even at age 37 — is much more concerned with her tennis future.
On Tuesday, after fending off Ostapenko, Williams was asked what age she feels inside. “I don’t know; I don’t think about it,” she said. “I feel quite capable, to be honest, and powerful. So whatever age that is, as long as I feel like that, then I know that I can contend for titles every time.”
Williams, seeded 10th, is two victories from her sixth and most improbable Wimbledon singles title, which would be her first since 2008.
But she is about to run into another in-form power player with a freight-train story line: Johanna Konta, the first British woman to reach this late stage of Wimbledon since Virginia Wade in 1978. “I definitely feel age is not a factor with her,” Konta said of Williams. “She’s just a tremendous champion, and I feel very, very humbled and very excited to share the court with her again.”
Tennis remains both a challenge and a refuge for Williams. It has helped her through personal setbacks, family strife and tragedy, including the murder of her half sister Yetunde Price in 2003.
It has been there for Williams again at Wimbledon as she copes with the aftermath of a car accident that she was involved in on June 9 in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, that led to the death of a 78-year-old passenger in the other vehicle.
Williams has not addressed the accident publicly since her firstround victory, after which she began to cry when answering a question about it. But her half sister Isha Price said the accident
I think the last match on the Centre Court was done before 7. Having in mind that Centre Court has the roof and lights, we could have played ‘til 11. WILLIAMS, SEEDED 10TH, IS TWO VICTORIES FROM HER SIXTH AND MOST IMPROBABLE WIMBLEDON SINGLES TITLE, WHICH WOULD BE HER FIRST SINCE 2008.
remained in Williams’ thoughts.
“It’s obviously an upsetting thing; something that is never going to go away,” said Price, who is accompanying Williams at Wimbledon. “But at the same time, to come and have that weight even now on her and be able to play through it, it kind of speaks to where her passion is.
“This is where she goes. She goes to the tennis court when anything is wrong. That’s just where she goes.”
Although Williams has given no indication this will be her final Wimbledon, it is a full-circle moment in at least one sense. When she made her debut in 1997, she did so without her younger sister Serena Williams, who grew up to become the most successful tennis player in the family. This year, she is again here without Serena, who is approaching her eighth month of pregnancy and is off the tour until at least next year.
Their father and longtime coach, Richard Williams, is also absent.